Madeleine McCann's parents win case 

Two newspapers said they will pay "substantial" damages to Madeleine McCann's parents for a series of articles alleging that they killed their daughter and covered up her death.

The Daily Express and Daily Star published rare front-page apologies and said there was no proof to support the allegations against Kate and Gerry McCann.

The tabloids will pay a "very substantial", but undisclosed, sum to a fund set up to help find the girl who went missing while on holiday in Portugal last May.

"We accept that a number of articles in the newspaper have suggested that the couple caused the death of their missing daughter Madeleine and then covered it up," the Daily Express said.

"We acknowledge that there is no evidence whatsoever to support this theory and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance."

The apologies will be repeated at a hearing at the High Court in London on Wednesday when the case is formally settled.

The McCanns hired the London media law firm Carter-Ruck earlier this month to sue for libel. The damages could be as high as 550,000 pounds, according to a Sky News report.

Madeleine McCann disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday while on a family holiday in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, prompting a huge police investigation and blanket media coverage.

The McCanns believe she was abducted from their flat while they had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

They hired private investigators to help find their daughter after police named them as suspects in September.

The investigation dominated newspaper front pages and TV bulletins for months, with many stories questioning the role of the girl's parents in her disappearance.

The Daily Express said it hoped that "the suspicion that has clouded their lives will soon be lifted". Despite a string of possible sightings, the girl's whereabouts remains a mystery.

A spokeswoman for the McCann family said she could make no comment before the High Court hearing.

No one at the Daily Express and Daily Star's publisher was available for comment.